Overwhelmingly Wonderful Day

While the adults of this world often leave me feeling fearful of our future, my students remind me of what's good about this planet. Thank you, students, for continually redeeming my faith in humanity. It makes me feel much less worried for this little one of mine. Today, with a trumpet, sign, flowers, and a crown, the senior class brought me the greatest honor, Teacher of the Year. I am surprised these pregnancy hormones did not push me into a pool of tears when you came into my fifth period class and surprised us all with the news. Even my fifth period juniors standing to clap for me did not bring tears to my eyes.

After I realized that the trumpet call was for me and not NHS tappings, all I could think of is how much joy you all bring me every day. I felt nothing but warmth (and no, I did not pee myself early, thank you), and that is why I could not shed a tear. I can only smile. The honest (yet cheesy) truth is that working with such a witty, talented, and sweet group of students for the past four years (and every year of my career) truly is the greatest honor of all. This kid of mine will need a closet dedicated to the shoes it needs to fill. Your overwhelmingly wonderful gesture humbles me. I hope the speech I have to write for your graduation (which leaves me feeling a little...a lot...scared) makes you as proud as I am of you.

If you'd like to see the tweet and a picture of my ever-so-flattering smile, here you have it:

Congratulations to Mrs. Wojcik, senior class Teacher of the Year! pic.twitter.com/OXPcz37VwU
— RH Spirit Hawk (@hawk_pride) February 19, 2015

Good thing I washed my hair this morning. Oh, speaking of which, I dressed myself, too. Here you go:

 

The Look:

Sweater: Old Navy (thanks, cousin Lisa!)

Top: Apt. 9 via Kohl's (thanks, Momma!)

Pants: Motherhood Maternity (thanks again, Momma!)

Note: the pants are actually gray, not black.

Earrings: New York & Co.

A few people have requested a bump picture. Ask and you shall receive. 

Finally, it's not gas. 

Roll-over day

My co-teacher knew about this little hummingbird before almost all of my other friends. Since she is a mother of four and we're really close, I knew she'd sniff it out before long. Anyway, she knows that I start a new week of pregnancy every Wednesday. Aha, bump day is on hump day! How fitting. How witty. Anyway, she calls Wednesdays my roll-over days. When I hit 12 weeks, she brought me a roll-over gift: two pads of paper and two shirts from Old Navy (wore it yesterday on the blog). Two days later, a male colleague, who also happens to have four children, brought a Valentine's day card for the baby! He gave me an Amazon gift card to buy books for the kid. People's kindness really humbles me.

For prosperity's sake, I thought I would do a little journaling every roll-over day. That way, if you want to run away from the blog, you know which days to do it. I do not want this blog to become a pregnancy blog, but I cannot very well ignore something I've wanted for so long that actually came to fruition. I hope you can understand. Also, I still plan to make you laugh, so hang on to that little nugget of knowledge. Let's do it kind of like those currently posts. Shall we?

Wearing: All of the loose-fitting things. I have been relying on loose-fitting tops and pants that don't make my abdomen feel as if someone is chokeholding it. No WWE in this house. The pant situation was dire until I broke down and went to Motherhood Maternity with Mom and bought two pairs of jeans online from Gap. All of the pants have served me well, considering that the belly band is a giant disappointment over here--it just turns into a vagabond rubberband, traveling everywhere it should not and squeezing uncomfortably. Here are the two pairs I bought from Gap:

 

exact 

 

exact 

Eating: Cottage cheese (in disgusting amounts), gluten-free poptarts, strawberry-flavored So Delicious popsicles (coconut milk + strawberry? I'll take five boxes, thanks), broccoli dipped in sour cream topped with a little salt (Mom taught me this weird combination in my youth), and mountains of spaghetti. At this point, if I can stomach it, I devour it. Apparently, my stomach now hates steak (WHO AM I?).

Feeling: In the beginning, I felt horrible every single day, could barely get out of bed or stray far from the bathroom. However, just when I thought I could not physically handle a moment more, the symptoms started to taper off a bit. Now, I have about two-three days every week during which I feel miserable, and it is all worth it. I feel best when I go to bed early, wake up early, use the Neti Pot every morning, drink a lot of water, and eat every two-three hours. Also, being at work provides a fantastic distraction, and I notice the symptoms much less when I spend time at work or go on cleaning binges at home.

Reading:  The past two days, I have been catching up on blogs. Finally. I have missed commenting on friends' blogs, so I am trying to make up for lost time.

Anticipating: I am going to a technology conference at the end of February with some grad school classmates in Baltimore, and I am excited to play with some new educational tools! I only paid $5 for parking, and I get to hang out with people I really like. Also, one of my good friends is coming from the Eastern Shore with her baby boy and husband because baby boy needs to see a specialist at the top medical facility near me. They're staying with us for a night, and I am excited to meet baby boy and spend time with friends!

Conference Wear

This past Thursday and Friday, we had round two of parent-teacher conferences for the school year. 

Since I have tried desperately to avoid showing that I'm "showing," I have had to rethink my  whole wardrobe situation. In the first trimester, I gained only two-four pounds, so that really isn't much. However, on someone as thin as I am, extra weight gain in a particular area is pretty darn obvious, and those extra pounds went nowhere other than my midsection. When I wear leggings and tees around the house, Jeff points at me and yells, "BUMP!" One of my male coworkers actually picked up on the pregnancy because I stopped dressing the way I used to dress, shirts tucked in and pants belted. It's all about looser, untucked tops now. Since I am a terrible liar, if someone sniffed it out like a shark with blood in the water, I answered honestly and sheepishly. 

Anyway, I worked with a black and white base by just adding some color. A lot of people complimented the look, which is half-comprised of gifts from other people.

The Look:

Blazer: Mossimo via Target 

Flats: Merona via Target

Earrings: New York & Co. (recent--got these bad boys for $6)

Pants: ummm...they're from Motherhood Maternity, and my mom bought them because the pant situation has become awkward, and belly bands do nothing other than ride up on me. I miss my pants already, but I do not enjoy buttons stabbing me in the abdomen.

Shirt: gift from my co-teacher :) It's from Old Navy--I love it!

Necklace: gift from Momma while she was on an RV trip with Dad

This dog is lucky she's cute because she covered my sleeves in mud when she jumped on me.

I have also worn the blazer like this:

Truth be told

I cannot blame my frequent absence from blogland on just the cold weather. It also stems from feeling so awful for the most wonderful reason. Since my health is unreliable, I did not even want to say anything at this point despite my being in the second trimester. However, Jeff cannot contain his excitement, so you're bound to see it on a billboard soon enough. 

Sinus surgery in April and two months of antibiotics/steroids threw my system into a nearly uncontrollable tailspin; I was even losing my hair because of it. It's encouraging to see that my hard work at improving my health and our months (actually more like a year) of disappointment finally led to good news. Finally. 

Admittedly, I have felt like absolute dog poop the past few months, but I have spent so many years feeling like dog poop that I can tolerate and even smile about feeling so horrible for such a blessing. My mantra has become "as long as the kid is healthy," and that helps me power through all of the unpleasantries that pregnancy has dropped in my lap. I can handle anything as long as this kid comes out healthy and happy.

After we told family and really close friends,

here's how we announced it to everyone else on Facebook:

And then I created a second one for good measure.

I actually made both announcements in PowerPoint and saved the slides as images. PowerPoint is my favorite way to make these kinds of things. Gosh, I am such a teacher. Also, I found both fonts on Pinterest. The first font ("after months of disappointment...") is called Forever and Always. The second font is called DK Carte Blanche. The month is Simon Script, and the date is ForgetMeNot. The dress is from Old Navy ;)

Weekend wear

This winter, I have been sucked into the leggings abyss. I still maintain that no one should see your lady junk because of not-opaque-enough leg coverings, but I can get behind wearing leggings in public as long as my behind is covered. This outfit is just appropriate enough...for the weekend. The leggings-to-work trend is one I still find myself navigating. Typically, I opt for leggings in place of tights under shorter dresses-turned-tunics. Where does one actually buy non-tent-like tunics suitable for pairing over "work" leggings? (Despite its sarcastic leanings, this question is actually a serious one. Suggestions are appreciated.)

Also, I can see my roots. I know they exist, but I am denying the need to banish them at the moment. Since I just squeaked out far too much money on a new couch, I should wait to shell out the cash on my hair. Being an adult is tough sometimes, right? 

 

The Look:

Vest: Gap Outlet (so old)

Top: Ann Taylor (Momma got it for me for Christmas.)

Leggings: Old Navy 

Boots: Etienne Aigner

Necklace: The Limited (two years ago)

Wood.

When my husband needs to update his résumé, I think he can officially write "master wood getter" as one of his fruitful endeavors. I know Fifty Shades of Gray is coming out in theaters next Saturday but no letting your mind wander to the gutter. Ahem. Now that we live in a house with a wood stove and my husband is a firebug, that man finds free wood as easily as I got hit by fly balls at my brother's baseball games. A guy at work has a neighbor who cut down a tree? Jeff is there with his truck and an axe. A neighbor cuts down a tree and doesn't want to pay for removal? Jeff is there with his truck (destroying their grass in the process) and an axe. Where there is free wood, there is my husband, a truck, and an axe. I might as well start calling him Paul Bunyan.  This story in no way relates to my outfit unless you count the fact that the shirt is green, green is like nature, and trees are a part of nature.

 

The Look:

Cardigan: Target

Shirt: Apt. 9 via Kohl's

Pants: Gap (Momma gave them to me for Christmas.)

Necklace: not sure, gift from Momma

Shoes: Target (they make surprisingly comfortable, affordable flats!)

Mock, YEAH. Ing, YEAH. Bird, YEAH. Yeah, yeah.

Name that movie, and I shall gift you a figurative million dollars. Or, as I tell my students, you will earn extra credit...in my heart. By the by, I started singing the title to my husband, and he finished it for me. That, my friends, is true love. Yeah? YEAH.

I would offer you a legitimate reason for my extended absence, but all I got for you is this: it got cold. I look even more haggard in the winter months, which must be why the first picture my husband took looks mildly blurry. Heck, I all but dragged him outside to take these pictures during which time (all of thirty seconds) he griped about the temperature. Winter whiner. Yeah, it's still cold, but I missed you guys, which is why I'll try to suck it up enough to visit you all a few times a week.

The Look:

Shirt: LOFT

Cardigan: Old Navy

Jeans: New York & Co.

Boots: Etienne Aigner via Macy's